Everything ran through my head as I reached down and picked up what looked to be an overly large sword. I thought about what had been on my inventory when I died:the full set of plate armor, the GDS #6, a few rings, an amulet, and the Specter Cape. Other than that I had some potions, food, and the rope. God, please don’t be a rope, I thought.

I lifted the sword up and a familiar feeling washed over me, though it wasn’t just the usual sense of accomplishment, or power that I felt. No, my hands grabbed the sword and every feeling that I had ever been felt mixed with every physical sensation that I had ever come across washed over me a hundred times, no a thousand, a million. It hit me harder and harder.

Lightning ripped through every cell in my body, thunder rocked my bones, light seared my skin, and darkness clogged my insides. I fell back, unable to handle the sensations. My hand hit the ground and the sword clanged loudly, but it wouldn’t release from my hands.

A deep, burning sensation overwhelmed me and my stomach burned like it was being roasted like a pig over a fire as a warrior’s latest, though meager, conquest. Then the water came. Waterfalls arose where the fire ended and gallons upon gallons shot profusely out of my mouth and nose. I tried to breathe through the attack on my very being, but all I could do was suffer through it.

I got used to the physical aspects of the pain and then the emotions hit me one by one. Fear. I feared the fact that I was a nobody in real life. I feared that I had lost everything I ever worked for and that no matter what I did I would just be a loser forever.

Then I got sad, the thoughts dragged me down and the water that was coursing through my esophagus felt like it was part of my very being. I felt like I was in that water, no I was that water. I wanted to stay there, it hurt, but it felt somewhat calming to just live inside of it for awhile.

Then hate burned through me like a pot of hot coals. Every bit of the flames that had whelmed up in my body blew through the rest of me and I felt it. I want to kill the person that caused this all, I wanted to end The_G0liath and fix everything. Then the flames burned even hotter and I began to want to harm Billy, the twins and even Sal. They had all hurt me in one way or another and I wanted to destroy them, viciously removing them from the planet as I had attempted to do to other players I deemed damned for years.

Then I felt disgust. How could I feel that way? There had been hiccups along the way, but Sal, Billy, and even the twins never did me any real wrong. My path wasn’t straight, but it worked out in the end, didn’t it? I felt the pain of my past words. How could I think that way? I didn’t get along that well with people, but do I really want to kill them for past minor indiscretions? Wouldn’t that just make me as bad as the scammers, lurers, and other bad guys I praised myself on hunting?

I then felt surprise. Surprise that the pain was forever present, yet I felt like the pain was what I needed. It all coursed through me in an unseen pattern. Sometimes the fire ruled and then it would be the water, but then the air would lift me higher and the pain would lessen. Then the earthly booms of thunder  would take over and I’d realize again that the sound was more like boulders smashing together than the sound of thunder.

It all surprised me, but what surprised me more was that I had put myself in the same boat as the evil “adventurers” that ruined my early years as a gamer and sent me on a self righteous path to what had been hell. But then, it all washed away. I was happy.

Happy for the fact that I had a purpose. I had saved the lands of Dragaria from possible devastation and had reacquired my weapon of choice, the most power weapon in existence, Gilded Dragon Slayer #6. I was somebody, no, I was a hero, the hero.

Then my body, which had been spasming intensely through the entire process, received a large gust of air, sending me soaring upwards. Then the light that had been burning my eyes and skin tore through my very being. Every feeling, every sensation, that I had felt during the daunting yet satisfying experience left me and all that remained was the light.

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My eyes burned stronger than it would have if I spent the rest of my life, or even lives, staring at the sun. I felt the light, the brightness, in every molecule, bone, and crevice of human existence, but it wasn’t a painful light anymore. My body bathed in a sea of energy. Some might have thought to call it holy energy, but I had never believed in or experienced such things, well, until that moment.

For once in my life I was at peace. There I sat flowing through the air, weightless, alive, and happy. Yes, for happiness flowed back through my veins and reawakened my shaken heart. The air lifted slightly and my feet began to slowly drift towards the ground like a fawn gracefully touching the ground after a season of practice.

The light began to fade, first from my extremities and then from deeper within my core. They left and a slight twinge of sadness remained, but something inside of me, light or not, kept me from relapsing into my previously experienced whirlpool of painful enlightenment. My body became more upright as both the air and light faded even more. Once the light had almost lifted and only existed as a single candle flame in the center of my very intellect, a single phrase, no a single title, remained. Alduin Landalof: The Dracorex Hogwartsia Pterodactylus.

I fell to a squat as globs of purple wrapped around me. I felt my arms stabilize me from my decent. The name then resided in my skull and I had a feeling it always would. I didn’t know much about what happened or why, but I did know one thing. My sword had chosen me. It revealed its name to me and as the game world liked to remind me, names were a big deal.

I stood up and valiantly thrusted my sword into the sky. I even let out a loud roar and booming waves ripped through the then night’s sky. A pack of nearby wolves howled in return. I took a deep breath in, appreciating air more than ever and then I realized it. I am alive.  

I looked around and Billy looked at me with worry plastered across his face. The imp seemed to have dropped his act and stared at me with his uneven mouth hung open.

“What kind of bonking master did I get sworn into?” The Imp cringed and his small, thin legs trembled like a kite flying forward into an approaching storm.

Billy stepped towards me, looked straight into my eyes and saw my relaxed yet confident disposition. His own fears seemed to dissipate as he looked deep into my soul.

“You have returned and even more whole this time. I know it was rough, but from now on you have the power of the world’s strongest sword by your side. There will still be trials and tribulations as long as you are alive and the sword exists, but this is a great step indeed. I am sorry for any physical or emotional harms that have and will come of you, but know that it comes from a pure heart.”

It was then that something clicked and I knew. He’s one of us. He approached me with an open hand I grasped it firmly. The handshake turned into a hug and the man whispered into my ear, “Welcome brother.”

I came out of the embrace prepared for the adventures ahead of me. I looked towards the imp and saw that he had relaxed. With my returned attention he bowed before me and said, “I formally introduce myself as Magnloias The Great. I lived a life of overly violent revenge, but I have been given a second chance. I want nothing else than to join you in your quest and to prove myself as someone new.”

The awfully looking creature put his hands on his hips and pushed his chest out at an attempt to see valliant and all powerful. I chuckled and greeted the creature, tabling my worries about him for another time. I had bigger worries than a reincarnated imp that wanted nothing more than to be alive.

I began walking Northeast and my two new companions stumbled after me. Billy was silent, but the Imp pelted me with questions about our destination. I turned around but continued walking and said, “To grind to max level of course.” The two gave me a strange but accepting look as I strode towards my destination.

We only made it about a hundred feet before my hands began to burn intensely. I looked at the sword and it glowed orange, yellow, and red as if mimicking the heat it put off. I dropped it from my hands, causing it to fall to the ground. The Gilded Dragon Slayer #6 Shattered into a million pieces in front of my eyes. All I was left with was a quest update...

Quest Updat

You have come a long way from your rebirth. It wasn’t all fun and easy, but you accomplished what you went after and were seemingly rewarded for it. You now have a bond with the sword commonly known as GDS#6. Its very core shared its name with you, putting you on a very short list of those whom it has done so with. Sadly, the sword you connected with was a phantom left behind by the actual weapon. It has communed with you--opened up to you. The weapon could mean the end of mankind on The Rock if you don’t retrieve it. Continue on the road to retrieve it? Y/N.

I selected yes and turned to Billy and Mangallius, they both looked at me with shocked and scared expressions. I just turned to them and said, “Well, I guess I should have known with this damn game.”